CMYK WEDNESDAY www.thestatesman.com 24 NOVEMBER 2021 FIND US ONLINE Scan this with your smartphone twitter.com/TheStatesmanLtd facebook.com/thestatesman1875 Pages 12 |` 5.00|LC KOLKATA | NEW DELHI | SILIGURI | BHUBANESWAR POWELL WILL AIM TO WIN A HIGH-STAKES BET IN SECOND TERM DICHOTOMY IN SUDAN P10 P6 KL RAHUL RULED OUT OF FIRST TEST CAPT CONNIVED WITH AKALIS & BJP TO RUIN PUNJAB : CHANNI P5 P12 Humid and discomfort weather is very likely. Temperature likely to be in the range of 31-22 degrees Celsius. India to release 5M SC rejects TMC plea to defer Tripura civic polls barrels from stock RAINFALL: Nil RELATIVE HUMIDITY The decision has been taken to tame skyrocketing crude oil prices Max.95% ASIAN NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEW DELHI, 23 NOVEMBER WEATHER TEMPERATURE Max: 31.2°C (+2) SUN RISES 05:55 hrs MOON RISES 20:50 hrs New moon on 04 Min. 58% Min: 23.1°C (+5) SUN SETS 16:51 hrs MOON SETS 09:56 hrs December THUMBNAILS SpiceJet Chairman and Managing Director Ajay Singh flags off the Boeing 737 MAX as the plane return to the service, at Gwalior Airport on Tuesday. SUBRATA DUTTA Alliance likely as Jayant Chaudhary meets Akhilesh: Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Jayant Chaudhary met Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Tuesday with the two parties likely to soon announce their alliance for the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls early 2022. Sources said that the two parties would contest the polls in alliance and an announcement is expected soon. Mega IAF acquisition approved: The Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), at its meeting under the chairmanship of defence minister Rajnath Singh, today accorded Acceptance of Necessity (AoN) for one capital acquisition proposal of the Indian Air Force for its modernisation and operational needs worth Rs2,236 crore. Court orders declaring Param Bir ‘absconding’ MUMBAI, 23 NOVEMBER A Mumbai court order, declaring former Mumbai Police Commissioner Param Bir Singh as ‘absconding’ has been pasted outside his flat located in Juhu on Tuesday. The order said that a complaint has been made before the court under various sections of the Indian Penal Code related to extortion and criminal conspiracy and the court is satisfied that the accused i.e., Singh has absconded or concealing himself to avoid the service of the warrant. “Singh is required to appear before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Esplanade, Mumbai or investigating officer to answer the said complaint within 30 days,” reads the order issued by the court. Former Mumbai Police chief Singh on Monday told the Supreme Court that he is very much in the country and not absconding. The SC granted him interim protection from arrest and directed him to join the ANI investigation. ndia plans to release about five million barrels of crude oil from strategic reserves within seven days, said government sources on Tuesday. According to sources, the decision has been made by the central government and the announcement is expected soon. “The decision to release five million barrels of crude oil is a collaborated effort of some countries led by the United States to cool off prices of crude oil in international markets,” sources said. Further, sources said that some other countries are also likely to come with such measures to cool off crude oil prices in the international market. “Japan and South Korea are the countries other than US and India which are likely to announce to release crude oil from these reserves,” it added. An announcement will be made soon about the release of crude oil from reserves to cool off prices in international markets and this will force the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to think about increasing the production of crude oil in international markets, it said. I US to release 50M barrels oil ASSOCIATED PRESS President Joe Biden on Tuesday ordered 50 million barrels of oil released from the strategic reserve to help bring down energy costs, in coordination with other major energy consuming nations, including China, India and the United Kingdom. The move is aimed at global energy markets, but also at voters who are coping with higher inflation and rising prices ahead of Thanksgiving and winter holiday travel. There are roughly 605 million barrels of sweet and sour petroleum in the reserve. “As we come out of an unprecedented global economic shutdown, oil supply has not kept up with demand, forcing working families and businesses to pay the price,” Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement. “This action underscores the president’s commitment to using the tools available to bring down costs for working families and to continue our economic recovery.” The Biden administration has argued that the reserve is the right tool to help ease the supply problem. The pandemic made energy markets - like everything else - haywire on multiple fronts. But as the economy recovered, prices jumped to a seven-year high in October. US production has not recovered. Energy Information Administration figures indicate that domestic production is averaging roughly 11 million barrels daily, down from 12.8 million before the pandemic started. Republicans have also seized on Biden’s efforts to minimize drilling and support renewable energy as a reason for the decreased production, though there are multiple market dynamics at play as fossil fuel prices are higher around the world. The U.S. Department of Energy will make the oil available from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in two ways; 32 million barrels will be released in the next few months and will return to the reserve in the years ahead, the White House said. Another 18 million barrels will be part of a sale of oil that Congress had previously authorized. OPEC-plus countries are not boosting their production levels despite complaints and requests from oil consumers like the US, India and Japan. Oil prices have recently hit their highest levels since 2014, and crude-importing countries like India are facing problems. The move is part of the efforts led by US President Joe Biden for a coordinated release of stockpiles to pump more oil to tackle rising inflation in major economies like the United States, China and others. WASHINGTON, 23 NOVEMBER This action underscores the President's commitment to using the tools available to bring down costs for working families... JENNIFER GRANHOLM ENERGY SECRETARY Vista: SC junks plea on land use issue ASIAN NEWS INTERNATIONAL NEW DELHI, 23 NOVEMBER The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea on the issue of the proposed change in land use of a plot where the new official residences of the Vice-President and the Prime Minister are stipulated as part of the Central Vista project in Lutyens’ Delhi. A Bench headed by Justice AM Khanwilkar said it’s a matter of policy decision and the court cannot interfere unless some mala fide is shown in the decision. It is the argument of the petitioner that since in the past it was a recreational area it should have been retained like that, the Bench said while taking note of the petitioner’s arguments and added that this cannot be the scope of judicial review. “It is not the case of the peti- tioner that the change is in a ‘mala fide’ manner. We find no reason to examine the matter further and thus dismiss the petition summarily,” said the Bench. The top court was hearing a petition filed by one Rajeev Suri challenging the change in land use of plot number one from recreational area to residential, saying the authorities have not demonstrated any public interest as far as the change in land use from recreational to residential for the plot is concerned. The petitioner’s counsel Shiv Suri argued that the change of open green area to the residential area is against public interest and about 6 acres of the green area is proposed to be taken over. In the last hearing, Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for Centre had told the apex court that official residences for the Vice-President and the Prime Minister are stipulated on the plot. To this, the Bench had asked Mehta, “So, the public recreation area is not available now? Is the public recreational area going to be transposed to some other place or transferred to some other plot? What is your stand, we would like to know about it.” Mehta had replied, “Considering that Parliament and other things would be coming up nearby, from a security point of view it would not be possible to have a recreational area in the vicinity”. STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE or extreme recourse... instead of postponing an election, we direct the Tripura government to ensure remaining phases take place in a peaceful manner”. The apex court directed the IG and DGP (law and order, Tripura) to hold a joint meeting with the state election commissioner by Wednesday morning to assess if sufficient strength of paramilitary forces is available to conduct a peaceful election. The Tripura government submitted a document on security arrangements for conducting municipal polls. Senior advocates Jaideep Gupta and Gopal Sankaranarayanan, appearing for the petitioners, argued for postponing the municipal poll emphasising it is not an ideal NEW DELHI, 23 NOVEMBER The Supreme Court on Tuesday said postponing an election in a democracy is an extreme recourse, as it may set off a wrong trend and declined to entertain a plea by Trinamool Congress to postpone municipal elections in Tripura, in the backdrop of allegations of deteriorating law and order situation. The top court, however directed the IG and DGP of Tripura to take steps to ensure municipal elections, slated on 25 November, are conducted in a peaceful manner. A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and Vikram Nath said: “Postponing an election is a matter of last resort SNOW PASS A snow-covered Sela Pass in Arunachal Pradesh's Tawang on Tuesday. IANS Cryptocurrency Bill to be taken up in winter session Mamata to meet PM Modi today NEW DELHI, 23 NOVEMBER SNS/AGENCIES STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE A Bill to prohibit private cryptocurrencies in India will be taken up for discussion and passing during the winter session of the Parliament on 29 November. However, it makes provisions for exceptions to promote the underlying technology of cryptocurrencies and its usage. The decision come after the maiden Parliamentary panel discussion on the broad contours of crypto finance in which a consensus was reached that it can’t be stopped but regulated. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also chaired a high-level meeting with officials from various ministries and RBI on the issue. West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi tomorrow. She is expected to bring up the issue of expansion in the jurisdiction of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the allocation of central funds for West Bengal. Political violence in Tripura may also figure in the talks. Trinamool Congress chief Miss Banerjee is on a visit STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI/KOLKATA, 23 NOVEMBER The report said that the recent disaster in Rishiganga is a latest example which suggests that the rock mass on which the glacier was sitting gradually became fragile with time and detached from the source rock NEW DELHI, 23 NOVEMBER A study by Indian scientists indicate that the combined effect of climate and tectonics have resulted in abrupt changes in the main course of the Himalayan Glacier. “It is for the first time that such change in course has been reported from a Himalayan glacier, and the researchers have attributed this to the accumulated influence of both climate and tectonics,” said a senior officer of the ministry of science and technology. “The abnormal behaviour of this unnamed glacier clearly suggests that not only is climate a controlling factor but also tectonics,” the scientists from Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology said in their report after studying an unnamed glacier in the Upper Kali Ganga Valley (Uttarkhand). “The recent disaster in Rishiganga is a latest example which suggests that the rock mass on which the glacier was sitting gradually became fragile (due to weathering, percolation of meltwater in joints, crevasses, freezing and thawing, snowfall, overloading, and gradually operating tectonic forces forcing rocks to mechanical disintegration) with time and detached from the source rock,” the report said. The WIHG scientists also found that the unnamed north-east moving glacier had been abruptly truncated and forced to move south-east. Using remote sensing and old survey map, the study claimed that the glacier had been affected by active fault and climate change and changed the morphology of the glacier. “An active fault produced a fault scarp that measures about 250m in height with a northerly dip. The fault trace is 6.2km in length and trends towards NW-SE,” the WIHG team observed. The WIHG team also found that the 5km long unnamed glacier, which covered around 4km sq area in Kuthi Yankti valley (Tributary of Kali River), has abruptly changed its main course. It moved, truncated, and ultimately merged with the adjacent glacier named Sumzurkchanki as a result of tectonic forcing during the time between Last Glacial Maxima (19-24 ka) and Holocene. It is one of the unique behaviours of the glacier, the study claimed. The study would open doors for a new approach in glacier studies, focusing on course change and evolution of new landforms by glacialtectonic interplay. WIHG is an autonomous institute under the ministry of science and technology. India recorded the slimmest rise in cases in 543 days at 7,579 on Tuesday, the Union health ministry said. In the same period, 236 people succumbed to the virus, increasing the nationwide death toll to 4,66,147. The country’s total caseload has mounted to 3,45,26,480, while the active cases were the lowest in 536 days, according to the health ministry data. The recovery of 12,202 patients has taken the cumulative tally to 3,39,46,749. Consequently, India’s recovery rate stands at 98.32 per cent, the highest since March 2020. The active caseload stands at 1,13,584. Active cases presently constitute 0.33 per cent of the total positive cases, the lowest since March 2020. With the administration of CMYK Galwan hero awarded Maha Vir Chakra posthumously NEW DELHI, 23 NOVEMBER to the national capital till 25 November, she will meet opposition party leaders to firm up with a strategy to corner the BJP in the Parliament ahead of the winter session that’s scheduled to begin on 29 November. Climate and tectonic factors changing New cases lowest in 543 days Himalayan Glacier course, reveals study VIJAY THAKUR situation to hold polls and added that no action has been taken against BJP miscreants. On their argument, the bench said: “cannot postpone elections in a democracy, it will set off a wrong trend.” The bench directed the IG, DGP and the home secretary to assuage any misgivings in connection with the fairness of the polls. Earlier, in the day the apex court sought a detailed security arrangement plan from Tripura government to ensure free and fair municipal elections slated on 25 November and also for the declaration of results. The SC was hearing a contempt plea by TMC and others claiming that Tripura was flouting SC order regarding security arrangements. 3,45,26,480 1,18,443 7,579 12,202 4,66,147 UNION HEALTH MINISTRY FIGURES AS OF 8.00 A.M. TUESDAY 23 NOVEMBER 2021 71,92,154 vaccine doses in the last 24 hours, India’s Covid inoculation coverage has reached 117.63 crore as of Tuesday morning. Bengal: West Bengal today registered 720 fresh Covid cases and 10 deaths. Kolkata recorded 211 cases and 4 deaths while North 24 Parganas recorded 134 cases and 1 death in the last 24 hours. Involve local vax ambassadors, Centre to states: The Centre has asked the states and Union Territories to involve local immunisation ambassadors to intensify the mass vaccination coverage with special focus on the second dose. In its letter, the Union health ministry suggested involving local influential figures appointed as immunisation ambassadors to influence peer groups. The ministry said referral codes on CoWIN may be assigned to each ambassador and each person they get vaccinated should be added to their tally. Also voice messages from the ambassador could be sent to those whose second doses are due. President Ram Nath Kovind presenting Maha Vir Chakra to Colonel Bikumalla Santosh Babu (posthumous) at Rashtrapati Bhawan. IANS STATESMAN NEWS SERVICE NEW DELHI, 23 NOVEMBER Colonel Bikumalla Santosh Babu, who made the supreme sacrifice while fighting the Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley clash last year, was today awarded the country’s second-highest military gallantry honour, the Maha Vir Chakra, posthumously. Col Babu’s widow Santhoshi and mother Manju received the award from President Ram Nath Kovind at the defence investiture ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. He has been honoured “for conspicuous bravery in face of enemy, exemplary leadership, astute professionalism and supreme sacrifice in the line of duty”. Col Babu was the commanding officer of the 16 Bihar regiment during Operation Snow Leopard and he was among the 20 Indian soldiers who were martyred in the fierce border affray with the Chinese troops during the peak of India-China standoff in Eastern Ladakh. Four other soldiers who were martyred along with Col Babu were awarded Vir Chakras posthumously. They are: Havildar K Palani, Naib Subedar Nuduram Soren, Naik Deepak Singh, and Sepoy Gurtej Singh.
The Statesman is one of India's oldest English newspapers. It was founded in Kolkata in 1875 and is directly descended from The Friend of India (founded 1818). The Englishman (founded 1821) was merged with The Statesman in 1934. The Delhi edition of The Statesman began publication in 1931. The Statesman Weekly is a compendium of news and views from the Kolkata and Delhi editions. Printed on airmail paper, it is popular with readers outside India. The Statesman (average weekday circulation approximately 180,000) is a leading English newspaper in West Bengal. The Sunday Statesman has a circulation of 230,000.